In the United States, automobile accidents are the leading cause of death for teenagers. For example, in 2005, 4,544 teenagers between the ages of 16 to 19 died of injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes. In the same year, nearly 400,000 motor vehicle occupants in this age group sustained nonfatal injuries that required treatment in an emergency department.
A number of risk factors are associated with teenage drivers. Teenage drivers are less experienced and less likely to recognize and appreciate hazardous conditions and are more likely to exceed speed limits. Teenage drivers are also more likely to become distracted while driving. One major cause of distraction is cellular telephone use and, in particular, text messaging while driving.
Text messaging has become a favorite mode of communication between teenagers. However, text messaging while driving a vehicle presents a hazard to the vehicle operator, passengers and other drivers. With the development of Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) the temptation to use cellular messaging capability while operating a vehicle becomes greater. It has been estimated that up to fifty percent of teenage drivers have formatted, sent and/or read text messages while operating a vehicle.
Several states have, or are considering, prohibiting text messaging while driving. However, enforcing laws prohibiting text messaging may prove problematic since the cellular device may be held in a position where it is not visible to law enforcement personnel. Further, a certain number of teenagers and other drivers may simply ignore the laws, especially if the penalty is nominal. Thus, there exists a need for a method of detecting and inhibiting the use of certain functions of cellular devices such as Short Message Service (SMS), Multi-media Message Service (MMS) and email while the operator of the device is also operating a vehicle.
The use of cellular phones by children and teenagers may be problematic in other situations and in particular in school environments. For example, there have been reports of students using SMS service during class and more seriously, during tests to transmit answers to each other. It has also been reported that SMS service has been used to arrange illegal drug transactions and that child predators have used SMS service in attempts to contact potential victims. Therefore there also exists a need to inhibit the use of various functions of cellular telephones in school and similar environments.